In a typical network environment, client devices request and download content stored within network servers. Exemplary content includes web pages that may contain one or more of text, graphics, video, and sound data. Other examples of content include files, multimedia data streams (e.g., audio or video data streams), electronic messages, and data tables. Upon receiving the content requests, the network servers typically retrieve the requested content, break the requested content into packets, and transmit the packets to the requesting client device. Routers and other network infrastructure direct these packets through the network to the client devices, which, in turn, reconstruct the content from the packets and present the content to users via applications residing on the client devices.
The network may experience a variety of issues that result in decreased download speeds at the client devices. These issues include a large volume of content requests to a single network server that overload or otherwise diminish the capacity of the network server to timely service the requested content. Moreover, network congestion and limited network bandwidth may impact client download speeds. To increase download speeds, the network may employ one or more intermediate network acceleration devices located between the client devices and the servers to address the above listed issues or other issues that adversely affect download speeds.
As one example, a network acceleration device may cache content received in response to a first request from a client device requesting the content. The network acceleration device may then receive and process subsequent requests for that same content by providing the cached content to the requesting client devices, thereby possibly eliminating additional requests for and the time associated with accessing the content from the remote servers. In this manner, a network acceleration device may be employed to facilitate transactions between the client and network server to increase the overall efficiency of downloading content. Commonly, this efficiency is measured in terms of a response time, e.g., the time necessary to transmit a response to the content request. In many instances, caching content may decrease response times.